PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - G S Johnson
AU  - H R Guly
TI  - The effect of pre-hospital administration of intravenous nalbuphine on on-scene times.
AID  - 10.1136/emj.12.1.20
DP  - 1995 Mar 01
TA  - Journal of Accident & Emergency Medicine
PG  - 20--22
VI  - 12
IP  - 1
4099  - http://emj.bmj.com/content/12/1/20.short
4100  - http://emj.bmj.com/content/12/1/20.full
SO  - Arch Emerg Med1995 Mar 01; 12
AB  - The use of intravenous nalbuphine in pre-hospital settings by paramedics has been demonstrated to be safe and effective. We assessed the effect of this additional intervention by comparing the time spent on-scene by ambulance crews treating patients with fractures of the tibia and fibula who received intravenous nalbuphine with those who had placement of an intravenous cannula alone and those who had neither cannula nor nalbuphine. The mean on-scene times were 17.1 min without cannulation, 29.9 min for cannulation without nalbuphine and 37.5 min for cannulation and administration of nalbuphine. The benefits of effective pre-hospital analgesia thus have a cost in terms of time. Continued audit of interventions and on-scene times is important to prevent inappropriate delays in pre-hospital care which may cause clinical and operational problems.